R'zel has a newly hatched firelizard on his hands so Alyna offers some friendly advice

When

It is afternoon of the nineteenth day of the seventh month of the thirteenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Living Caverns, Southern Weyr

OOC Date

26 Mar 2018 04:00

Living Caverns

Grand and spacious, the cavern curves high aloft in naturally-vaulted ceiling that soothes any sense of claustrophoba. Rich woods line the cavern floor, varnished and stained a rich mahogany, while round tables scatter about candlelit and intimate. The largest table lies southerly next the sideboard, long trestles that seem oriented to providing for the weyr's youngest. The rich blue of Azov can be seen from a distance in good weather, when the heavy stone doors covering the entrance are allowed to stand open.

It's a rainy afternoon outside, and although it isn't a mealtime, the Living Caverns are relatively full, mostly of people dropping in for a mug of klah - or maybe peppermint tea, which is now a regular on the menu for the benefit of afflicted stomachs. R'zel's on the klah today, but he's looking as if reversion to the peppermint - if not something harder - may be imminent. Ocelot's wingsecond has brought up a bronze dragon, can manage an entire wing of dragons in Threadfall - but one tiny screaming scrap of gold firelizard has him reduced to distraction. There's a small plate of finely chopped meat on the table, which she's ignoring. Her newly-oiled hide gleams. Her human is holding her in his hand and gently rubbing her head - but she's still shrieking fit to raise the roof of the cavern.

Leaving the Infirmary is Alyna, a small pot of numbweed in her hands that she quickly stuffs into the pocket of her jacket. Around her neck, like an ornate necklace, her own golden firelizard Jem is curled, seemingly napping. When the shrieks of the young queen reach her though, she lifts her small wedge-shaped head and cheeps inquisitively. Pulling Alyna out of her own thoughts, the blonde haired woman spies her Wingsecond and his little friend, causing a smile to play on her lips as she alters her path to take her along to where he's sitting. A casual salute of two fingers tipped in his direction as she tries to hold back her mirth, a healing line of threadscore, thin but nearly a fingerlenth worth, mars her usual pale skin along her jaw on one side. "Newly hatched Sir?" she asks as Jem rouses herself and slinks down her arm to stretch her neck in the direction of the little one, crooning softly.

R'zel looks up and answers in a rueful tone, "This morning. How long do they go on doing- oh!" At the sound of Jem's crooning, the hatchling has aborted her creeling with a strangled gulping sound, and is now crooning in return. Her eyes turn swiftly from angry orange to a calm blue. "Well, look at that. I don't know what I was doing wrong, but she seems happy enough now. Pretty little thing, isn't she? But I don't know how she has that much lung power when she's that size." He picks up a small chunk of meat in his fingertips, ready to offer it.

"She's very pretty indeed. Your first one?" Alyna asks as she slides herself into a chair across from R'zel. Jem hops down onto the table top and swaggers over to get a better look at the little one, keeping the softly melodical crooning up since it seemed to calm the screaming hatchling. Her little golden head swings towards the scraps of meat, but her manners are better than that and she just hunkers down, curling her tail around her as she watches the other firelizard. "You'll be surprised at the amount of noise something that little can produce. But they settle down quickly enough." the greenrider offers. "Do you have a name yet?"
R'zel releases Zhiva, who launches into the air.

"First and last, I suspect," R'zel says, smiling now. His eyes are fixed on the little gold with considerably more affection than they showed two minutes ago. "I think one's going to be enough." He holds out the piece of meat towards her, and she takes it delicately from his fingers. It's a good job it's small, because she hardly chews it at all before gulping it down. "I thought she must be hungry, the amount of noise she was making, but she didn't seem to want it." He tries another piece, which meets the same fate. "If yours wants a bit, do help yourself. I'm not totally decided about a name. Maybe Zhiva. Possibly. But if you have any suggestions…."

Alyna can't help but laugh heartily at his words, "Indeed. I feel the same with my Jem. I love her to pieces and wouldn't trade her for anything in the world, but I won't be looking at impressing any more that's for sure." At his offer of the scraps, the greenrider grabs a piece off the plate and tosses it at her own little queen who reacts instantly and snaps it out of the air in one quick motion. "Make sure you start training early though if you want her to be useful to you. Jem is quite clever actually and very helpful." As if she knows that her humanpet is talking about her, Jem preens prettily with a soft warble. "I like Zhiva, pretty name for a pretty firelizard." She adds wistfully.

"Zhiva. Ziva? No, I think Zhiva." R'zel tries the sound of the words while continuing to feed the tiny queen. "I'm hoping she's going to take messages between here and my family. How old was yours when you started to train her?" Zhiva's happy now: the meat is disappearing quite rapidly. Jem is being ignored in favour of eating. "Jem - that's nice, too."

Alyna smiles brightly as she grabs another piece, her gold waiting patiently instead of invading the plate of scraps, her manners impecable. The piece is tossed again, this time high so that the queen has to hop up off the table to get it. "I like it, I think it suits her." Alyna adds about the name he has picked. "As soon as she start doing more than eating and sleeping, so a couple of sevendays I think." She clears her throat then and smiles softly. "I'm no expert of course, but Jem turned out all right." She says with affection as she reaches out to offer scritches to her firelizard.

"How did you start with her?" The meat is going down quite rapidly now, and Zhiva's little belly is starting to show signs of plumpness. R'zel stops feeding, to see if she's had enough, but that's rewarded with a plaintive wail and a lunge for the bowl. "I suppose it's best to hand-feed at this stage, to stop her bolting it? You can't /talk/ to them the way you can a dragon hatchling." It's a good job he's never had a puppy! He offers another piece of meat, and the cry subsides.

"I started with manners first." Alyna says as she watches him continue to feed the little gold. "Which can be done at meal time, when you are feeding her. After she's done with the worse of the hatchling hunger, try and get her to sit quietly before you feed her." another scrap is grabbed and held up in front of Jem who sits on her haunches, little jeweled eyes locked onto Alyna's face, completely unmoving. Holding her hand out in front of the firelizard, meat resting in the palm, it's only when Alyna inclines her head that the gold daintily stretches her neck and snags the piece before gobbling it down.

"I can see how that might be useful. Yours is very nicely behaved." R'zel's tone is appreciative. Then he turns his gaze back on Zhiva, who's starting to slow her eating. That's convenient because the plate's emptying, too. "My poor girl is still a bit disorientated by the big wide world at the moment, I suspect. I wish I'd had the chance to work out how to handle things before she hatched - she wasn't what you'd call a planned addition to the family. And I can hardly believe how small she is."

"Thanks for noticing. It just takes patience and consistency." Alyna nods as she watches the newly hatched firelizard and her slowed eating. "You'll be surprised at how quickly she catches on though, so you have to be sharp so that she isn't the one training you." her words are accompanied by a little snicker but then she looks curiously at him, "So how did you manage to impress her then? I got Jem here when a bunch of Hatchlings invaded a beach BBQ I came across. At least there was plenty of meat on hand." she chuckles again at the memory.

"She was a gift from Vani." R'zel chuckles at the thought. "She came up to me after drill yesterday, thrust the egg pot into my hands with the words, "Here, have this rock," or some such, and left me to it! And the egg hatched early this morning. I thought about getting one a while back, but I hadn't actually got round to looking for an egg." Zhiva sniffs at a piece of meat and turns her head away - she's full. R'zel returns the meat to the plate. "Verokanth's not entirely convinced about firelizards - he likes them but he's not sure why I'd want one."

Clearing her throat at the mention of the other Ocelot wingsecond, Alyna looks around as if she's considering grabbing a drink for her dry throat. "Some gift that is!" she says simply before turning her gaze back to R'zel. When the piece of meat is placed back on the plate and it's obvious the hatchling isn't going to eat anymore, Jem turns her head to Alyna expectantly, and with a smile, the greenrider nods her head and the older gold shuffles over to it and daintily picks up the piece that was just discarded. "Just wait till she can help you bathe Verokanth, he will see her worth then I'm sure. Haquith says her little claws are perfect for those really itchy spots."

"Well, let's hope he's properly appreciative, then," R'zel smiles. The little gold is starting to blink sleepily, and he picks her up and drapes her along his forearm, where she hooks her tiny talons into his sweater and drifts off to sleep. "Asleep in seconds. It must be nice to be able to just switch off like that." He strokes the little head for a few moments, then looks up at Alyna. "How's that threadscore doing?"

Alyna reaches up and lets her fingers trail the narrow line of score along her jaw gingerly. "I've had worse. I just had it checked," she nods in the direction of the infirmary, "They said it's healing cleanly and it hardly hurts anymore. It was just bad luck, a gust of wind at the wrong time." she shrugs dismissively and drops her hand again. "How about you? Still dealing with tummy troubles?" she asks curiously as she watches her firelizard make quick work of the reamining scraps.

"Off and on - but it's been fine for the last few days. Just as well, considering the last few Falls." He holds the arm with the sleeping lizard against his chest. "You know, if she's anything like a dragon she'll be dead to the world for a bit now she's stuffed herself. I think I'm going to get her back to my weyr while she's still asleep." Which does raise the question of how to put his jacket on while holding the firelizard. He gets to his feet anyway. .

"Well that's something to be thankful for." Alyna mentions and her eyes shadow softly when the last few Falls are mentioned and she shakes her head as if able to rid herself of certain thoughts that threaten to invade her. "Well, it keeps us on our toes that's for sure." she adds with a sardonic snort before she watches him get to his feet and she follows suit. "That's probably a good idea. Here, let me help you." Moving around the table she snags his jacket and holds it up for him.

That shadow's reflected in R'zel's eyes - he doesn't take the loss of a wingmate easily. He murmurs, "Thanks," to Alyna as he shuffles garments and lizard, and eventually ends up with Zhiva clinging sleepily to his chest inside the buttoned jacket. "Clear skies, Alyna." With that, he makes his way out of the cavern towards his waiting dragon.